


Dreaming the Nightmare

by SolNiveAngelo (Mogadorian_Wolf)



Series: After Sarah [3]
Category: The Lorien Legacies - All Media Types, The Lorien Legacies - Pittacus Lore
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Multi, Protective! Nine, dream within a dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28551825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mogadorian_Wolf/pseuds/SolNiveAngelo
Summary: John has a nightmare. Luckily Sarah's there. Oh, wait- that's a dream.
Relationships: Sam Goode/John Smith | Number Four/Stanley Worthington | Number Nine, Sarah Hart/John Smith | Number Four
Series: After Sarah [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834177
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Dreaming the Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This and the sequel have been sitting in my rough draft folder for a while. I'm finally getting around to going through my folders. We'll see if I can keep up my new motivation and productivity (I've made promises and promptly fell through, so no promises this time).

_I knew I was dreaming, and I desperately tried to pull myself awake, but Setrakus Ra was holding me down so deeply in the dream that it seemed impossible to ignore. His forearm pressed into my neck, and I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe! My hands pressed against his face, trying to use my lumen to burn his face, but my legacy doesn’t work. And I couldn’t breathe._

_He grinned with dark satisfaction and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You can’t win against me, Four. You’re nothing without your legacies.” He pulled back to watch me squirm and pulled out his sword. “I’m going to make you watch as I kill your friends one by one.”_

_His gaze flickered to the side, and I followed his gaze to see Sarah running for me, armed with a Mogadorian gun. He grinned at me as he got to his feet. I couldn’t move. Something was holding me to the ground._

_I tried screaming for Sarah to run as Setrakus Ra met her on the battlefield with a dark taunting laugh. She looked so determined as she raised the gun and fired._

_Nothing happened. She looked down at the gun in surprise. The sword ran through her in that brief moment. I screamed with everything. Setrakus Ra just turned to me with that smirk, and I could hear his voice in my ear clear across the battlefield. “It’s your fault she’s dead, John.”_

“John!” Sarah’s voice cut through the nightmare, finally pulling me out of its grasp. I rolled over and buried my face in her chest. She was here. She was safe. Setrakus Ra hadn’t killed her. It was just a nightmare.

She rubbed my back and whispered. “You were glowing. I haven’t seen you do that in your sleep.”

I wrapped my arms tightly around her as I took deep shaky breaths. The nightmare was over. I didn’t want to go back to sleep. We could get up, make some hot chocolate and cuddle on Nine’s couch or something. I pulled back and studied her face. A strand of her hair fell into her face as she pushed herself up on her elbow, and I pushed it back. Why was I sad, looking at her like this?

“Let’s watch a movie,” I whispered. She smiled, and I could so vividly see us curling up on the couch in Paradise so long ago as we watched a movie. “Whatever you say, Superman.”

The moment started dissolving. A sigh ruffled my hair, and I was keenly aware that I was buried into a chest that couldn’t possibly be Sarah’s. Sarah blew away like leaves in the fall, and I was awake with Nine whispering over my head, “Crazy that he managed to tame Five. He’s really still standing guard with Daniela?”

Sam snorted, settling against my back and wrapping his arms around me. “He’s sent away some of Walker’s men that wanted to get a move on. I don’t think he’s slept all night. But it’s not really that crazy when you think about. John’s our leader, our lynch pin. He’s the one Five went to when he needed help, who you had heal your hand.”

Nine nuzzled his face into my hair and hummed. “John’s got a golden heart. He inspires the best in people. Even if he is an idiot with healing Five and all. I just wish I could take some of the pain from him.” I felt him gently kiss my head, and the wave of grief swept back over me. Sarah was dead. It hadn’t just been a nightmare. Whatever wall I had up yesterday, fell away, and I broke down sobbing.

Nine’s arms tightened around me, pulling me fully against him. Sam moved closer until he was flush against my back and Nine wrapped his arms around Sam with Sam’s around Nine. They wove a body cocoon around me, like they could protect me from the world, from Sarah’s death. I couldn’t tell them that they couldn’t stop the grief, but I did feel safe held between them, like the war couldn’t touch me here, the expectant looks about what to do were so far away. It was so warm and comfortable here, and maybe I could go back to my dream where Sarah was still alive. I just wanted to stay hidden between them.

“There will be time to grieve after the war, Johnny-boy. We’ll take the time to bury our fallen. But right now we need you to keep it together- we need our leader,” Nine told me in a soothing voice. “Everyone’s waiting for us. Sarah died for this war, for us to stop Setrakus Ra and save Earth. We can’t let her down. We can’t let any of the people we’ve lost down.”

I tightened my grip on his shirt, pressing my face further into his chest. “I don’t want to be the leader. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

Sam kissed the back of my neck. Nine rubbed his face in my hair. “Then we have to fight. We have to stop them.”

“Leaders don’t always choose themselves; they’re chosen by the ones that follow them, and every single one of us is following you. Even Five will follow you.”

I shifted to look at Sam. He gave me a half smile, pain shining in his eyes. He’d grown up with Sarah in Paradise. Yet both him and Nine were there to catch me. Maybe someday, after the war, after I’d grieved for Sarah, there could be something between us.

“Let me just stay in this moment for a little longer.”

Nine kissed my temple. “We’ll give you everything we can.” And it sounded like he meant so much more than just time.


End file.
